Ty Taylor, the owner-operator of the new Pinches Tacos in Homewood, met and become friends with the family that started the business while he was living in Los Angeles. (The Birmingham News / Tamika Moore)

Javier Anaya and his brothers opened their first Pinches Tacos fast-casual taqueria three years ago on LA's Sunset Boulevard.

Now, with the help of a close friend from Birmingham, the Anayas are ready to make the big leap all the way into Alabama, where they will open their latest Pinches Tacos in downtown Homewood's new Hallman Hill development.

It is their first venture outside of the Los Angeles area, where they also have locations in Santa Monica and Culver City.

"Homewood is up and coming," Javier Anaya says. "Your first location, you always try to pick the best one because that's going to either make you or break you."

The new Pinches Tacos opened Monday, Jan. 31.

Ty Taylor, who grew up in Homewood and graduated from Homewood High School in 1992, is the owner-operator of the Pinches Tacos here.

After graduating from Tulane University, Taylor lived in Los Angeles for 12 years, where he managed a couple of Mexican restaurants while trying to break into the movie business.

Taylor and Anaya met though mutual friends about eight years ago, and they became fast friends.

"Ty and I, we're family," Anaya says. "He passes the mother test. My mom has this stone face that pretty much doesn't smile for anyone, so the first day she met Ty, which was about five years ago, she smiled and gave him a hug and a kiss, and I was like, 'Wow, OK, my mom actually likes you.' So we trust Ty like a brother. We brought him in like family."

And so, after Taylor moved back to Birmingham two years ago, the Anayas knew where they wanted to open their next Pinches Tacos, and who they wanted to run it.

"Our plan when we started Pinches in LA was to go nationwide," Anaya says. "But the reason we are here in Birmingham is because of Ty. We call him the 'Boomerang Kid' because he came back."

If Taylor's name sounds familiar, it's because he opened the Tilted Kilt Pub & Eatery on U.S. 280 in August 2009. He left the Tilted Kilt after about six months to get Pinches Tacos off the ground.

"Some other good friends of mine on the West Coast were part-owners of that franchise, so they knew I was here working on opening my own restaurant and knew I had some time because we were waiting for Hallman Hill to get finished," Taylor says. "The plan all along was to come home and open up Pinches."

Pinches Tacos prides itself on the Anayas' authentic family recipes, which have been passed down through four generations but have remained unchanged. The mole recipe, for example, goes back nearly 120 years.

"When I say authentic, I mean we stick true to the ingredients," Anaya says. "A simple taco is a tortilla, the meat, onion, cilantro and salsa."

The name Pinches Tacos is a tribute to Anaya's great uncles, who worked as cooks for Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa, according to the menu.

"Folklore has it that our great uncles used to run with the infamous Pancho Villa," the menu says. "They were his cooks, or Pinches. So the story has it that every time he would get hungry, he would scream out, 'Pinche, traime unos tacos.' ('Cook, bring me some tacos.') Hence the name Pinches Tacos."

While a "pinche," in Spain, means "kitchen boy," or cook's assistant, among Mexicans, "pinche" also has a derogatory meaning.

"It has quite a few (meanings), depending on what country you go to," Anaya says. "Other people think it's a little more vulgar, but it's very common to say, 'What's up, pinche?'"

In addition to tacos, the Pinches menu offers burritos, enchiladas, quesadillas, flautas, sopes and tortas, the latter of which are Mexican sandwiches served with guacamole, beans, cilantro and onion.

Also, on Saturdays and Sundays, Pinches Tacos will open early for a Mexican brunch that includes a breakfast burrito ($7.50), a breakfast sandwich ($7.50), huevos rancheros ($9.95) and chilaquiles ($8.95), a favorite of the Anaya family.

That dish comes with tortilla chips sauteed with eggs, salsa, Oaxaca cheese, onions and cilantro, and is served with sour cream and guacamole.

"Chilaquiles is probably the most popular Mexican breakfast," Anaya says. "You mix everything together and it creates this amazing breakfast of chips engulfed in eggs and salsa."

Beverages include Coca-Cola products and Mexican soft drinks, as well as sangria, Mexican and domestic beers, and two house-made margaritas (lime and blood orange).